Is it the UK, Great Britain or England?

Let's find out

Have you ever encountered a situation where you have to explain your juniors about the terms UK, Great Britain and England?

Even the scarlet passports don’t have the answer, which say that they belong to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Fortunately, we have the answer to this very British problem!

The borders

The United Kingdom comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. This now seems much more plausible why members of the royal family of England have titles like the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.



Great Britain can be used only for England, Scotland and Wales. England, if you look on a map, is the area in the United Kingdom, excluding Wales and Scotland. London is its capital. Northern Ireland is separated from this land mass located on the upper end of Ireland.



 

The rule-makers

While Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are managed by a devolved legislature—a fancy of way of saying that they are represented in the UK cabinet—daily affairs of each country are handled by their own governing bodies.

England, however, does not have a central body, managed instead by multiple departments. London is managed by a mayor and a separately elected assembly, which together form the Greater London Authority.

And beyond
Let’s add another hat to the mix: the British Isles, which refers to the group of islands off the northwestern coast of Europe. Great Britain is the largest of the British Isles.



The land mass that Northern Ireland belongs to, which shares a border with the Republic of Ireland, is the second largest. But to be clear, the Republic of Ireland is an independent country, which is not part of the United Kingdom.

You can now go and show off what you learnt to your friends who can’t stop talking about London.

This article originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveller.